Traditionally, cards used for consumer transactions have been credit or debit type cards that contain information on the face of the card and/or conventional magnetic stripe technology. More recently, smart card technology has been used to store additional information on a wallet sized card.
With the recent growth of e-commerce, consumers have become much more likely to conduct transactions, such as making purchases or paying bills, through the use of a computer rather than with conventional face-to-face transactions. Although software programs have been developed to assist with bill payment, purchasing, and other transactions, these software programs must be loaded on a computer in order for a user to implement them.
When making online purchases, consumers are typically required to manually enter a credit card number. This process is cumbersome and is commonly viewed as an unsecured transmission of information. Furthermore, smart card usage requires technology that is not typically available to the average merchant or computer user.
While smart cards and magnetic stripe cards do not require a consumer to manually enter a credit card number, these technologies require special reading devices for reading the information. These technologies also require separate loading of software on a device other than the card. Furthermore, conventional personal computers are not capable of reading either magnetic stripe cards or smart cards.
Accordingly, a need exists for a card that simplifies computerized purchasing, bill paying, and other transactions including online transactions. Additionally, a system and method for using the card are needed.